NUTS-DRY FRUITS LADDOO, how to make a healthy no sugar-no jaggery snack out of nuts and dry fruits

This is an ideal snack for the school going kids...and also, we, adults, when we have a craving to nibble  something in the evenings........
This is really really a healthy laddoo, with very minimal cooking involved, and no jaggery or sugar has been used here.  The natural sweetness of dates, raisins, apricots and figs are more than enough for this.This can be quickly whipped up as any Festival offering also.
 The natural stickiness of the dates is enough for the formation of laddoos.
My niece brought home lot of dry fruits, and thought of making this. Recipe source is Tarla Dalal (with some modifications)

Ingredients

 Seedless dates - 2 tbsp

Almonds - 2 tbsp

Pistachios - 2 tbsp

Raisins - 2 tbsp

Cashews - 2 tbsp

Figs - 4

Apricots - 4

Ghee - 1/2 tsp

Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Recipe cuisine: Indian; Category: sweets/snacks

Prep time: 5 mts; Cooking time: 3 mts

Yields 15 laddoos

All the nuts and dry fruits

Figs and apricots finely chopped

In a non stick pan, pour 1/2 tsp ghee, and slow-roast the cashews, almonds, pistas and raisins. When they become light pinkish in color...

add the chopped figs and apricots, and saute well

Load everything into the blender-jar

and pulse into a coarse powder. Put this on a plate

Dates pulsed

Now, pulsed dates and cardamom powder  added

Knead everything into a dough, even while the mixture is warm

Shape into small laddoos, store  in an airtight container. 

This post first appeared in www.malpatskitchen.com

Notes

* Take care to buy seedless but sticky variety  of dates. Do not buy the very dry kind of dates.

*You can add walnuts too.

*For extra flavor, a teaspoon of white sesame seeds can be dry roasted and added too.

* Has a shelf life of a week to ten days in room temperature. If you are going to keep it for a longer time, it is ideal to refrigerate, but the keep the required number of laddoos out of the fridge an hour before.

Categories: Desserts, Festival Delicacies, Healthy Cooking, Indian sweets, Janmashtami neivedhyams, Low-Cal Snacks